The Adjustment Bureau

They stole his future. Now he's taking it back.

2011

Genres: Romance, Sci-Fi, Mystery, Action

Starring:
Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Terence Stamp, Anthony Mackie, John Slattery

Summary:
David Norris (Damon) is a bright politician set to become one of the country's youngest senators. On the eve of a crushing defeat, he meets Elise (Blunt) and the two form an instant powerful connection. When David coincidentally meets her on a bus some time later, their attraction to each other becomes even stronger and he promises to call Elise.

Immediately afterwards, David stumbles onto a mysterious group of agents led by Richardson (Slattery) who seem able to control people's minds and actions. Richardson explains that they are responsible for tweaking events (and sometimes minds) to ensure that a mysterious master plan is followed. Unfortunately, the plan decrees that David and Elise are never to be together. David is ordered to forget Elise and move on with his career.

David refuses, and senior agent Thompson (Stamp) is brought in to clean up the mess. Unfortunately for the adjustment bureau, David is not the type to give up.

Response:
This is yet another big budget film based on a Philip K Dick short story. As such, it's a surreal exploration of free will, power and authority. The premise is interesting, if more fantasy than science fiction. It allows the filmakers to focus on the characters rather than get bogged down in trying to explain something that is really unexplainable.

The movie skirted around religion, and this made me kind of nervous. I was cringing in anticipation of the ending where I was worried God would make an awkward cameo. Thankfully, the filmakers avoided delving into this sticky formulaic ending.

The chase sequences are well-directed, and David's resourcefulness is quite the feat. At times, the film feels like The Bourne Identity meets The Matrix. But that's not a bad thing.

Having said all of this, The Adjustment Bureau would be a pretty average film if it weren't for Damon and Blunt. I really can't remember the last time I saw such great onscreen chemistry between two people. They really do make this movie a joy to watch. Oh, and Terence Stamp isn't too bad either.

Point Blank:
There's not many good romance sci-fi films out there. This is one of them.